TicketsUC Hosts No. 17 DePaul on Monday Night
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
2/7/2005
Karen Twehues is fifth in UC history in three-pointers. |
GAME FACTS:
Date: Mon., Feb. 7, 2005
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,167)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Records: Cincinnati, 7-14 (2-6 C-USA)
DePaul, 18-3 (7-1 C-USA)
Radio: www.bearcast.uc.edu
TV: None
Live Stats: www.UCBearcats.com
Tickets: $5/$3, 513-556-CATS
Series: DPU leads, 17-11
Last Meeting: Jan. 11, 2004 at DPU
DPU 88, UC 61
SETTING THE SCENE: Cincinnati seeks its first three-game winning streak of the season when the Bearcats host No. 17 DePaul on Monday, Feb. 7 in Fifth Third Arena. UC put together its finest offensive performace of the year in a 79-69 win over Marquette on Saturday to climb to 2-6 in Conference USA and 7-14 overall. The Blue Demons are 18-3 on the season and tied for the league-lead at 7-1. They have won 12 of their last 13 games.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
F 1 Ashley Brown, 6-0 Fr., Wilberforce, Ohio 4.6 5.3 0.8 .398
F 14 Emy Ogide, 6-2 Fr., Rockmart, Ga. 2.0 2.1 0.1 .500
G 12 Micah Harvey, 5-7 Jr., Sardinia, Ohio 5.5 1.8 4.2 .286
G 13 Toni Slaughter, 6-0 So., Shelbyville, Ky. 10.0 6.1 1.8 .340
G 32 Karen Twehues, 6-0 So., Minusio, Switz. 9.8 2.5 1.1 .345
DE PAUL PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
F 24 Erin Carney, 5-11 Fr., Flint, Mich. 6.4 6.5 1.6 .466
F 42 Khara Smith, 6-2 Jr., Hillside, Ill. 19.0 11.9 3.0 .625
G 3 Jenna Rubino, 6-0 So., Mokena, Ill. 11.6 5.6 2.9 .463
G 14 Allie Quigley, 5-11 Fr., Joliet, Ill. 13.8 2.5 3.0 .486
G 32 Jenni Dant, 5-10 Sr., Lincolnshire, Ill. 12.4 3.0 4.3 .375
STORYLINES:
? UC stands six wins from reaching the 500-win mark in program history.
? After playing in just three of the first 17 games, Edwina Williams has averaged 12 minutes and 4.3 rebounds over the last four games.
? The Bearcats have won two games in a row three times this year, but never three.
? UC was 0-6 vs. ranked teams last year and lost to No. 15 Michigan State erlier this year. UC's last win over a ranked team was a 75-59 win over No. 19 Xavier on Dec. 12, 2000.
? DePaul has won 17 of the 28 meetings between the schools, but UC has won eight of the last 10 and the last five at home.
? The game will feature the two winningest coaches in Conference USA in UC's Laurie Pirtle (359 career wins, 276 at UC) and DPU's Doug Bruno (380 overall, 340 at DPU).
? UC and DePaul have faced four common opponents: Marquette, UAB, USF and Louisville. The Blue Demons are 3-1, while UC is 1-3.
? DePaul is led by junior forward Khara Smith, who is fourth in the country in rebounding (11.7/g), sixth in field goal percentage (.625) and 23rd in scoring (19.0/g).
? The Blue Demon offense leads the nation in scoring (84.9/g), assists (20.4/g), scoring margin (+25.1) and rebound margin (+13.9).
LAST TIME VS. DE PAUL: Khara Smith's 35 points and 10 rebounds led DePaul to an 88-61 win on Jan. 11, 2004. It was UC's worst loss in nearly eight years. A 14-0 run midway through the first half gave the Blue Demons a 16-point lead and they ran away with it on the strength of a 21-2 run in the second half. Debbie Merrill led UC with 21 points and eight rebounds as the Bearcats committed 25 turnovers and were outrebounded, 44-31.
LAST TIME IN CINCINNATI: Debbie Merrill scored 27 points to carry Cincinnati to a 71-67 overtime win on Feb. 21, 2003. It was Laurie Pirtle's 250th win as UC's coach. The Bearcats led by one with nine seconds left before Ashley Luke was fouled with 2.2 seconds remaining. She made only one free throw to send the game to overtime. UC held DePaul to only a free throw in the extra period while a three-point play by Merrill gave the Bearcats the lead for good. UC shot 52 percent from the field in the second half to overcome a 34-29 halftime deficit. Jenni Dant led DePaul with 23 points, while Khara Smith had 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
NOTING THE MARQUETTE GAME:
? UC scored a season-high 79 points led by Toni Slaughter's career-best 22. Edwina Williams added a career high of 10 points.
? Micah Harvey recorded 12 assists, a career-best and tied for the second-highest single-game total in school history. Karen Twehues added a new high of five assists as UC totaled a season best of 22.
? Twehues made four three-pointers to move into fifth in UC history with 74 career triples.
? Anne Stephens scored 14 points to surpass the 500-point mark for her career (502).
CONFERENCE USA SUCCESS: The Bearcats are one of seven teams to have a conference record over .500 throughout the history of Conference USA. UC is 79-62 (.556) in the 10-year history of the league, posting winning league marks in the five years before last year. The Bearcats were 12-4 in the 1998-99 season to claim the regular season championship.
HELP OFF THE BENCH: In the last nine games UC has averaged 56.9 points per game and over half, 28.8, have come from the bench. Anne Stephens has averaged a team-best 12.1 points per game in this span and Bellva May has had three double-digit scoring games, both as reserves.
CLOSE CALLS: UC was 3-8 last year in games decided by eight points or fewer, but won on two of the last three occasions. The Bearcats are 2-5 in such games this season, including five of the last seven games. The Bearcats lost 16 games last year by an average of just 8.6 points.
ART OF THE STEAL: Junior reserve Bellva May leads UC in steals with 33 and has recorded 16 in the last seven games. She has had three games with at least four steals. Micah Harvey is second on the team with 31, already surpassing her career best of 22.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: UC currently has played the 56th-toughest schedule as ranked by the WBCA/Summerville RPI, and it only gets tougher as DePaul is ranked in the top 30 in the current RPI rankings. The Bearcats' schedule, which features 14 games this year against teams that reached the postseason in 2004, was ranked as the 38th toughest prior to the season. UC's 2004-05 opponents had a combined 438-326 record for a .573 winning percentage last year.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: The Bearcats opened the season with a combined total of 71 games of starting experience. Anne Stephens (25) and Micah Harvey (24) accounted for 49 of those. For comparison, last year?s team brought 229 games of starting experience into the 2003-04 campaign. Nine of the players on the 2004-05 roster are in just their first or second year at UC.
UNQUESTIONED LEADER: Head Coach Laurie Pirtle is UC's all-time leader in coaching wins and on Feb. 21, 2002, she earned her 250th win leading the Bearcats. She and DePaul's Doug Bruno are the only C-USA coaches with at least 275 wins at their current school. On Feb. 20, 2004 against East Carolina she became the 54th active coach to win 350 games in a career.
ROAD WEARY: Of UC's last 41 losses, 26 have occurred away from Cincinnati. UC has lost 18 of its last 23 road games and eight of the last nine. The Bearcats have averaged 10.5 fewer points scored on the road this year than at home.
APPROACHING MILESTONE: Now in its 34th season of play, UC has won 494 games. The Bearcats are among four other schools vying to become the first women's teams in Conference USA to reach 500 all-time victories. Houston accomplished the feat last week and Southern Miss has 499. Louisville (494) and East Carolina (494) are right with UC.
BLOCK PARTY: UC recorded 15 total blocked shots against Arkansas and UAB. The eight against the Lady Blazers was the second-highest single-game total in school history, trailing only the 12 rejections against Miami (Ohio) in Dec. 1983. Anne Stephens and Emy Ogide had 11 blocks in the two games. The Bearcats are averaging 3.3 blocks per game this year, on pace for 89, threatening the school record of 96 held by that 1983-84 squad.
TOP 10 CATS: Juniors Anne Stephens and Micah Harvey and sophomore Karen Twehues are seeing the results of their careers in the UC record books. Stephens now has 41 career blocks to rank ninth in school history. Harvey has handed out 285 assists in her career, which is eighth all-time by a Bearcat. Harvey's 135 assists last season was the eighth-best single-season total in UC history. Twehues has made 74 three-pointers in just 40 career games to move into fifth in UC annals.
RAPID RETURN: Sophomore Treasure Humphries underwent surgery for a torn ACL in late August and astounded all by making it back to the court in a little under four months. UC's steals leader and fourth-leading scorer last year, she made her debut at Middle Tennessee State on Dec. 29 and scored eight points in 11 minutes with two steals. Humphries averaged 7.8 points in her first four games with a high of 11 points at USF.
EMERGING EMY: Freshman Emy Ogide (pronounced A-mee O-giday) played in just three of the first six games, recording one point and one rebound. Pressed into extended action against Xavier because of injuries, she responded with two points, three rebounds and two blocks. She has played in all 14 games since and started the last eight, winning seven of eight jump balls. She is averaging 2.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in the last 10 games. She had a career day against Arkansas, setting new bests with eight points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two assists.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since Fifth Third Arena became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 148-81 (.646) on their home court. Over the past seven years they have an outstanding home record of 101-27 (.789). UC went 15-1 at home in 2001-02, the best-ever mark. The Bearcats put together a school-record 21-game home win streak from Jan. 1, 2002 until a loss to Tulane on Feb. 2, 2003.
BALANCED ATTACK: UC has gotten contributions from a number of different sources offensively. Five different players have led UC in scoring and nine different players have recorded a total of 53 double-digit scoring games. The Marquette game was the fifth this season in which four Bearcats reached double-figures.
SIDELINED AGAIN: Leslie Knoch, who missed 39 games over her first two seasons due to injuries, has been bitten by the bug again. She is currently out indefinitely with a stress fracture. A leader on and off the court, she was having a career year before the injury. She is one of four team captains and has started 16 games this year, the first starts of her career. She has scored in double-figures five times this season, with a career high 20 points in the comeback win over Ball State. She ranks 12th in C-USA in three-pointers made (1.35/g) and 11th in three-point percentage (.333).
A DAY FOR THANKS: The day before Thanksgiving left much to be thankful for in Bearcat basketball at Fifth Third Arena. In the afternoon, the UC women came back from a 14-point deficit with fewer than nine minutes left to top Ball State, 62-58. Leslie Knoch's career-high 20 points led the comeback effort. Later that night, the men trailed Northern Iowa by 18 with 10 minutes left, but UC evened the score and eventually won, 76-70, in double overtime. The greatest comeback in Fifth Third Arena history was led by Jihad Muhammad's 23 points, nine coming in the final 2:50 of regulation.
DEFENSIVE LOCKDOWN: The 31 points scored by Detroit in UC's 60-31 win on Nov. 21 was the 11th-fewest ever allowed by the Bearcats. It was the lowest total by a UC opponent since Robert Morris scored 29 on Nov. 20, 2001. It was also the fewest points ever scored by Detroit. The seven blocked shots by the Bearcats equalled the second-best UC single-game total at the time.
POWER CONFERENCE: Last year Conference USA produced an all-time high of 17 postseason basketball teams (6 NCAA Men, 4 NCAA Women, 2 NIT, 5 WNIT). Only the Big East with 19 (6 NCAA Men, 8 NCAA women, 4 NIT and 1 WNIT) and the Big 12 with 18 (4 NCAA Men, 7 NCAA Women, 5 NIT and 2 WNIT) produced more postseason basketball teams last March.
POSTSEASON TRADITION: The Bearcats have reached postseason tourney play seven straight times, with this era accounting for all but two of the postseason appearances in school history. Four of the seven have been to the WNIT, including last year. The seven-season streak is the longest active streak in Conference USA.
UP NEXT: UC takes to the road to face East Carolina on Friday, Feb. 11 and league-leader Charlotte on Sunday, Feb. 13.